Safety cranks for plug doors

ABSTRACT

This invention is a crank arrangement to retain a railroad car plug door in an upright position in the event the plug door becomes unsupported by normal means. This safety crank is not functional during normal operation of the door and will rotate from a closed to an open position and vice versa during lateral movement of the door.

United States Patent 1191 Ross, Jr.

[ 1 SAFETY CRANKS FOR PLUG DOORS {75] Inventor: lrving D. Ross, Jr., Harrington, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Youngstown Steel Door Company,

Cleveland, Ohio {22] Filed: Mar. 11,1974

211 App! No.: 441,151

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No 347,677, April 4, 1973,

abandoned.

[52] US. Cl 49/220 [51] lnt. Cl. 4. E05D 15/10 [58] Field of Search 49/216220, 49/426, 449

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Beauchamp 49/220 1451 Oct. 21, 1975 Torburn .v 49/219 Johansson 49/219 X Primary Examiner-Kenneth Downey Attorney, Agent, or Firm Irving D. Ross, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT This invention is a crank arrangement to retain a railroad car plug door in an upright position in the event the plug door becomes unsupported by normal means. This safety crank is not functional during normal oper ation of the door and will rotate from a closed to an open position and vice versa during lateral movement of the door.

1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet 1 of 4 3,913,269

U.S. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet 2 of4 3,913,269

US. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet3of4 3,913,269

llllllllllllllnllllllllllln \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\N 111|||Tii|l|| U.S. Patent 01. 21, 1975 Sheet 4 of4 3,913,269

Mr .i

SAFETY CRANKS FOR PLUG DOORS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 347,677, filed Apr. 14, 1973, now abandoned.

it is well know in the railroad industry that freight car doors are subject to abuse during normal loading and unloading of freight cars. Fork lift trucks are used to open the doors and through the use of these fork lifts and other handling methods, doors become more difficult to operate. Through repeated use of fork lifts to move these doors, damage can and often does occur to the door operating parts. If the door parts that support the door such as the top operating cranks become damaged, it is possible that the door will become disengaged from the car. Doors falling from freight cars have a potential for personal injury as well as car derail ments.

There also have been cases where doors have become disengaged from freight cars during car impacts with open car doors. Open doors have also fallen from moving freight cars clue to the interference with stationary objects.

Summary and Purpose The present invention comprises a crank arrangement attached to a railroad car plug door to provide a support for the door in the event the normal supporting means for the door become ineffective.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a typical railroad car plug door showing the invention attached to the door.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the invention with the door in closed position.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the invention with the door in closed position.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the safety crank with the door in open position.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the safety crank shown when one end of the crank is located at the door retainer cope.

FIG. 6 is a top view of an operating crank when the door is in open position.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the safety crank as located in a retainer of another configuration.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now particularly to FIG. I, a railroad box car side is designated by the reference character 10 and its plug door by 11. Plug door 11 is shown in its closed position. One end of safety crank 12 is rotatably mounted to plug door I]. The other end of safety crank 12 is located within door retainer 13. Plug door 11 also contains two upper operating cranks designated by 14. These upper operating cranks 14 along with lower operating cranks 15 are rigidly attached to their connection pipes designated by the reference number I6. Connection pipes 16 are rotatably attached to the door 11 at fulcrums designated by the number 17. Manual rotation of operating lever 18 results in the linear extension or retraction of connecting rods 19. Connecting rods 19 are attached to connecting pipe 16 at a clevis 20. The linear movement of connecting rods 19 causes the rotation of connection pipes 16 and, in turn, the rotation of operating cranks l4 and IS. The rotation of upper operating crank I4 results in the upper edge of door II to move inward or outward from the door opening depending on direction of rotation, upper operating crank 14 pivoting abouts its roller end designated by numeral 21. The roller end of crank 14 is contained in a door retainer 13. In like manner the rotation of lower operating crank 15 results in the lower edge of door 11 to move inward or outward from the door opening depending on direction of rotation, lower operating crank I5 pivoting about its hanger and designated by numberal 22.

When plug door 11 moves inwardly or outwardly from door opening, safety crank I2 pivots about its roller end designated by numeral 23 which is contained in retainer 13.

Plug door 11 is supported by hangers 24 which contain rollers that rest on track 25. The hangers 24 and track 25 are designed to permit rolling movement of plug door II along track 25 longitudinal to the railroad box car side 10.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 which picture the safety crank 12 when plug door 11 is in closed position. Roller end 23 of safety crank I2 is shown contained within door retainer I3. Safety crank I2 is rigidly attached to shaft 26 which is rotatably contained in fulcrum 27. Washer 28 is rigidly attached to shaft 26. In the event plug door II would become unsupported either at hangers 24 or at operating cranks I4, safety crank 12 would support the plug door 1 I and prevent it from falling from railroad box car side 10.

Reference is made to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 which shows safety crank I2 contained in door retainer 13 in two different positions along door retainer 13, when plug door II is in open position. The purpose of cope 29 is to accept shaft 26 when plug door 11 is in closed position.

The symbol "A" designates the angularity of safety crank 12 to the plane of the railroad car side I0.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the angularity "B" of operating crank 14, when plug door II is in open position is considerably greater than the angularity .A" of safety crank 12 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In order to effect this difference in angularity (B-A) of the operating cranks l4 and safety crank I2 when plug door 11 is in open position, it is necessary that safety crank 12 be considerably longer than operating cranks I4. The purpose is designing safety crank 12 longer in length than operating cranks I4 is to insure that safety crank does not jam and lock in outward position when plug door 11 is being closed and moving toward railroad box car side 10.

Another purpose of designing safety crank I2 longer in length than operating crank I4 is explained as follows:

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 which shows the roller end of safety crank I2 contained in door retainer 13 when plug door II is in open position opposite door opening and before plug door 11 has been moved along track 25 longitudinal to the railroad box car 10. FIG. 6 in like manner shows the roller end of operating crank 14 contained in door retainer 13 when plug door 11 is in open position opposite door opening and before plug door 11 has been moved along track 25 longitudinal to the railroad box car It]. Reference is again made to FIGS. 4 and 6, and attention is drawn to the relative positions of the roller ends of cranks both safety and operating, Items 12 and 14 respectively, to the copes 29 and 3]. it can be appreciated that car retainer 13 is better able to support plug door 11 when the roller end of either the operating cranks 14 or safety crank 12 is located at an uncoped section of door retainer 13. Re ferring again to FIGS. 4 and 6 it can be seen that when plug door I1 is in open position opposite door opening the roller end of operating cranks 14 are directly above copes 29 while the roller end of safety crank 12 is directly above the uncoped section of door retainer 13. Thus in this position of plug door 11 the safety crank I2 is better able to support the plug door ll than operating cranks M, in the event plug door ll becomes derailed. Therefore, by designing safety crank 12 longer than operating cranks 14 additional safety in supporting a derailed plug door I1 is obtained.

FIG. shows the roller end of safety crank 12 when it is located directly above its cope 29.

FIG. 7 shows safety crank 12 in conjunction with a retainer 28 of dissimilar configuration than that of retainer 13 which is capable of supporting plug door ll in the event plug door ll becomes unsupported by op eratingcranks l4 and hangers 24.

Whatis claimed is:

l. A plug rail car door comprising:

a door member;

a door retainer;

a door track;

a pair of connection pipes rotatably secured to said door member;

operating crank assembly means attached to each end of said connection pipes;

rollers secured to said operating crank assembly means at the lower end of said connection pipes for supporting said door for sliding movement along said door track;

rollers attached to said operating crank assembly means at the upper end ofsaid connection pipes for guiding the top of the said door along said door retainer;

actuating means attached to said door for rotating said connection pipes to cause said door to move into and out of the door opening;

said door retainer containing copes so located as to accept said connection pipes when said door has moved into said door opening in closed position;

the improvement comprising a safety crank assembly pivotally mounted on said door intermediate said operating crank assembly means;

said door retainer also containing a coped out section so located to accept the shaft of said safety crank assembly when door is in closed position;

said safety crank assembly containing a safety crank longer than the operating cranks of said operating crank assembly means so that the said safety crank does not align with its coped out portion of said door retainer at the same time that the said operating cranks of said operating crank assembly means align with their respective coped out portions of said door retainer;

said safety crank assembly prevents said door from disengaging from said door retainer during opening or closing movement of said door by being in a non-aligned position with its respective coped out portion of said door retainer in the event said door becomes unsupported at said door track when said operating cranks are in alignment with their respective coped out portions of said door retainers.

* i i i i 

1. A plug rail car door comprising: a door member; a door retainer; a door track; a pair of connection pipes rotatably secured to said door member; operating crank assembly means attached to each end of said connection pipes; rollers secured to said operating crank assembly means at the lower end of said connection pipes for supporting said door for sliding movement along said door track; rollers attached to said operating crank assembly means at the upper end of said connection pipes for guiding the top of the said door along said door retainer; actuating means attached to said door for rotating said connection pipes to cause said door to move into and out of the door opening; said door retainer containing copes so located as to accept said connection pipes when said door has moved into said door opening in closed position; the improvement comprising a safety crank assembly pivotally mounted on said door intermediate said operating crank assembly means; said door retainer also containing a coped out section so located to accept the shaft of said safety crank assembly when door is in closed position; said safety crank assembly containing a safety crank longer than the operating cranks of said operating crank assembly means so that the said safety crank does not align with its coped out portion of said door retainer at the same time that the said operating cranks of said operating crank assembly means align with their respective coped out portions of said door retainer; said safety crank assembly prevents said door from disengaging from said door retainer during opening or closing movement of said door by being in a non-aligned position with its respective coped out portion of said door retainer in the event said door becomes unsupported at said door track when said operating cranks are in alignment with their respective coped out portions of said door retainers. 